kreed5120

Bonzi Wells is apparently interviewing for the BSU job

Marshall already is a perennial opponent. Excluding the covid shortened season we've played them 8 straight seasons. We initially scheduled them for a 4 year contract, but both schools keep agreeing to extend the deal.

We use to play CSU every other year as part of the coaches vs cancer double header. Of course that's when they stunk and people then complained why are we playing cupcake CSU when we should be playing someone like Middle Tennessee. A team that was doing well at the time. That's the thing with mid-majors is who is good one year to the next varies so much. Edit: There has been 36 all-time meetings between the schools https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/play-index/matchup_finder.cgi

Over signing is pretty standard these days given how much the transfer portal has exploded.

A lot of those comments were before the UCLA game. After the game posters seemed to change their tune and said Akron should be favored to win the MAC next year and that Freeman will be a contender for MAC POY.

NMSU accepted an invite to Conference USA to backfill all the teams that bolted for the Sunbelt and AAC.

Yes, I didn't say NMSU wasn't a good mid-major program. They're just the only good mid-major in a extremely weak conference. It becomes easier to recruit at the mid-major level when you're pretty much a lock to make the tournament every year.

Generally how it works in sports is the more talented you, the more schools/fans are willing to look past things. He was only at BG for 1 year and they went 11-7 in MAC play. Not like he achieved enough for BG to give him the benefit of the doubt. Also, the WAC is a disaster of a conference. It's pretty much NMSU, who has been a solid mid-major for a while, and a bunch of other really crappy teams. NMSU is pretty much a lock to make the tournament every year and they had success long before Jans got there. I doubt he would have had the same success at BG as the MAC is much more competitive.

I don't see Steele getting much, if any, attention from major conferences. His time at Xavier was more disappointing than Groce time at Illinois and Groce at least had prior tournament success to bolster his resume. Steele has really nothing. He's almost certainly going to have to go back to being an assistant at a high major or accept a position at some place like a Ball State to prove himself. Whether or not a MAC school has interest in him I have no idea. I don't think he would be a break the bank though. If he decides to be a head coach at a mid-major over being an assistant at a big school, I'd imagine he'd sign for ~500k/yr. I believe Whitford was making around 300k so it would definitely be a pay increase, but very doable if they decide they want to make a splash hire.

I said it in another thread I feel we really need a stretch 4. Some here seem to think the same. We also need at least 1 other person to emerge as a legit scorer whether that be Tavari or someone else. Tribble needs to spend the entire offseason working on his 3 point shot. Being a guard that is no threat from deep really allows the opposing defense to play 5 on 4

I 100% agree the more athletic 6'5-6'8 guys you can have on the court, the better. The length would help a ton for the defense Groce wants to run. I'm with you on categorizing Ali as a 3. Not only is he not big enough (in muscle mass) to be a 4, but he's not really a strong rebounder. A lot of games it was really Freeman getting us boards with little help from anyone else. Kwan and Xeyrius were both significantly better rebounder than Ali is. If you pair Freeman down low with another guy who can get 6-7 boards a night, we should win the battle on the glass the vast majority of the games, especially in MAC play.

Well there us always next year...

Stop the count!

I'm sure they did. Government agencies are notorious for inflating the useful life on capital projects to help justify the costs.

I lived in Mogadore briefly after college. I had to join the Moose Lodge as it was the only bar in town. Im pretty sure I was the only member under the age of 40. Town Tavern I've been to a few times and I've enjoyed myself there. It is a little bit on the smaller side to be hosting an invite like this, but then again it is a late night game during the work week so most will likely just be watching it from their home.

Holmes is absolutely owning them in the low post 10/15 from the field for 20 points. Toledo struggled with Freeman both games too as he was 6/6 in the championship game and was 7/8 from the field in the regular season. A game I feel we could have won had Freeman not gotten in foul trouble. Hopefully they don't fix that problem this offseason otherwise they might actually be able to live up to expectations for once.

Despite Dayton being down their starting point guard Toledo is getting absolutely worked by Dayton at home. Dayton us currently up 14, but was up as much as 18.

Yes, I'm not surprised he was fired. Just that they didn't wait to until after the NIT to do it.

They just beat CSU yesterday to advance in the NIT. Seems like odd timing to fire your head coach while you're in the middle of a post-season tournament

Yes, I agree with it more so being about fit. Akron can play more positionless basketball with Wynn on the court than Aziz, which is useful when you're sending a lot of double teams therefore need quick guys to rotate on weak side help. Aziz I would expect to see play some against UCLA. UCLA has a lot more size than MAC schools and frankly I'm not sure how well Wynn could guard there low post players.

As much as I'd love Groce to stay if he's still here in 5 years, that likely means we didn't have a ton of success in the tournament. Reality is when a program Alabama comes in and offers you $3 million/year like they did Oats there is little that you can do. At the same time you want your coach to be performing at a high enough level that those programs want what you have.

Yes, why the NIT did that is beyond me. It's one thing to maybe slide a 5 seed down to a 6 to create a regional matchup, but to have them play the top ranked team in the tournament is absurd.

I'd really like if we could add a stretch 4. Our lineup can be pretty small at times and having another 6'8 big who can drain 3s on the roster would add more size and floor spacing. It would also allow us to be able to match up better with bigger teams. We've tried going big with Freeman and Aziz on the court together, but they can't co-exist as neither one can score away from the hoop. Someone like Xeyrius Williams would have been a perfect fit for this team.

I personally feel it's best that they're different. From what I heard the CBI has a 50k entry fee and that covers the cost for the entire tournament. That makes it much more attainable for many programs that can't afford to pay $50k per game, which gives teams a chance to have a postseason that otherwise would have just called it a season. Meanwhile, if you're a program that is well funded and want to give your fans more home teams you can opt for the TBC. The CBI having its semi-finals and finals on ESPN is already a huge plus over TBC as it will draw more viewers. It shouldn't be that hard for the CBI to get the earlier rounds on ESPN+. That IMO is the only negative. Edit: think about it if you're trying to recruit what's more appealing telling an 18 year old that you went to Southern Utah or telling them that you went to Daytona Beach for spring break? 18-22 year old kids aren't going to get tired of that.

With players being able to transfer more easily these days coaches have lost their leverage. Senderhoff could come out and condemn the actions, but then he risks pissing off his locker room and losing his roster. You don't have to look any further than Duquesne. I don't know what went down there, but they had numerous players leave who made major contributions at other schools. Duquesne probably would have been pretty good this year had they kept the band together. Instead Dambrot can now claim he has a roster of players who buy in and want to be there, but those players aren't good and the teams sucks. It very well may cost him his job.